So, I was reading the forums when I realized something: I have way too many topics for submissions! Seriously, I had tons of them! Too many, infact, for them to be split apart and such, so here's a level pack with all of my pre-released stuff! However, in addition to them all being in a pack, some courses received adjustments and will continue to be updated within this pack! ...Least, this is what I said when I first made it. But now it has grown into a HUGE pack with tons of courses! Ports, new courses, and courses made by other members! There's tons of track to tear up, so get on it!

What's that? STILL not enough Kart action? Well, those Riders and Sonic R stages were gathering dust, so I converted some of them to Karts mode! They can be found starting from "MAPRA".

Oh yes, quite a bit of Kart Kontent there.

OKAY ENOUGH TALK TIME FOR SOME ACTION

MIRRORS

NOTE: Both music wads are required, as the music is split among them. HOPEFULLY, this will mean I only need to update one or the other if I really need to. M1 is for the ports, and M2 is for custom maps.

If you're going from 2.1.1 to 2.2, be sure to grab Music WAD 2! Both text files were updated as well.

Also, if you have both music wads, but enter a server, the music wads wont load themselves in, but just type "loadup" in the console, and the game will do the rest!

Also, I find it funny that my first N64 port is of a level that is currently unplayable due to the lack of a gametype it can be used in (due to how Match works). I was also thinking of porting Skyscraper. Considered Double Decker as well. Not sure on any of them, considering CZ64 didn't even make Battle mode yet (if he does).

In other news...

Well, at least the area isn't AS boring looking as before...

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

Okay, I'm gonna go off on a withering rant now. You already know a bit about this, but you don't seem to really grasp the magnitude of the problem. I can't take it anymore.

Cloud Cradle K is total crap. It is the absolute worst Mario Kart course that has been created for SRB2Riders, ever. You are only deluding yourself by shrugging off any criticism of its design...either dramatically overhaul it or cut it out of the pack. I don't care if you can point me to a YouTube video of a complete run of the course...that's like showing me a 3-star walkthrough for an Angry Birds stage and citing it as proof that it can be done easily. That's not proof of anything at all.

I don't care what the context is--precision jumping should never mean the difference between life and death in a Mario Kart stage. In fact, unless you're using it for a shortcut, it shouldn't ever be used, period. Get over your obsession with that damn pillar in the center of the track; there is simply nothing redeeming about it.

Also, I must once again advise you to be very careful about how you place curves. Don't put a sharp turn just after a jump, because only dumb luck is going to help you drift safely out of something like that.

Additionally, those diagonal springs that launch you off the track unless you straddle between them with pinpoint precision drifting? In my view, their continued existence is not negotiable. They are nothing more than a gigantic middle finger to the player. They aren't fun, they aren't clever, and they aren't thrilling. They are irredeemably cheap and they have to go.

In a good Mario Kart track, the hazards should be worth noting but pale in comparison to the danger of your opponents. If everyone is spending all their energy avoiding that pillar or those springs, or twisting around immediately after a jump, they can't spare a moment's notice for the race itself, let alone use items to shake things up.

Lastly, let me remind you of what Mystic said in the thread for Monochrome Road (which is much, much better than this nightmare of a track): if you make courses to challenge yourself, they're not going to be fun for other people, because the designer is always intimate enough with the stage to navigate it effortlessly. Personally, I tend to find it easier to make an easy stage harder than a hard stage easier, for reasons of emotional attachment. In general, the developer's sense of what is fun and what isn't is a good barometer for what the public will think, but there are some big exceptions. One such exception is difficulty. What the developer thinks is easy might be challenging to other people; what the developer things is hard is in all probability excruciating.

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Just another indie game developer...check out my website, Chapman Games!

To be honest, Fawfulfan, I love Cloud Cradle K just because the laggy nature of SRB2 netplay makes multiplayer not a hugely viable option for this stuff. It's great fun to time attack, and even in multiplayer it's quite hilarious to fall off multiple times.

But then again, I play kart racers like a religion, so I'm used to sliding through brutal courses like they're nothing.

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<@toaster> '"sonic robot explosion 2", the hot new sensation for teens looking for a good time, tempts many children away from god each year'

I don't care what the context is--precision jumping should never mean the difference between life and death in a Mario Kart stage.

Where's this precision jumping you speak of? A picture please? I didn't have to jump in the stage at all. :/

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Get over your obsession with that damn pillar in the center of the track; there is simply nothing redeeming about it.

Or you could just...you know, follow the springs better? The literally spring you AROUND the pillar.

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Also, I must once again advise you to be very careful about how you place curves. Don't put a sharp turn just after a jump, because only dumb luck is going to help you drift safely out of something like that.

I don't think dumb luck is needed when the part is just after springs and you can see clearly where to go while in mid-air. The turn isn't even that hard at all... Although I do think all the walls in the course need to be replaced with ones you can't accidentally drive and fall off of.

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Additionally, those diagonal springs that launch you off the track unless you straddle between them with pinpoint precision drifting? In my view, their continued existence is not negotiable. They are nothing more than a gigantic middle finger to the player. They aren't fun, they aren't clever, and they aren't thrilling. They are irredeemably cheap and they have to go.

Now it's just starting to sound like your a bad angry strafer that's trying to play Mario Kart mode with mouse-look. Once you get the part down the first time, it's pretty easy.

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In a good Mario Kart track, the hazards should be worth noting but pale in comparison to the danger of your opponents. If everyone is spending all their energy avoiding that pillar or those springs, or twisting around immediately after a jump, they can't spare a moment's notice for the race itself, let alone use items to shake things up.

Though the level isn't mushroom friendly, I can name many area's where you could screw over people easy with items. Actually, what I like most about this level is that it requires skill instead of cheap items. Sure I wouldn't want a level like that all the time, but I think that's what makes it unique.

I don't care what the context is--precision jumping should never mean the difference between life and death in a Mario Kart stage. In fact, unless you're using it for a shortcut, it shouldn't ever be used, period. Get over your obsession with that damn pillar in the center of the track; there is simply nothing redeeming about it.

You know that is literally a straight line, right? You drive straight on the springs, you go forward, you land. No springs are in line of the pillar. Just aim properly after that drift.

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Originally Posted by Fawfulfan

Also, I must once again advise you to be very careful about how you place curves. Don't put a sharp turn just after a jump, because only dumb luck is going to help you drift safely out of something like that.

I fail to see how, as its quite easy to drift tightly afterwords. If you do it right, you don't even need to let go of the accelerator to right turn drift and keep it held down the entire course like any given Mario Kart course.

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Originally Posted by Fawfulfan

Additionally, those diagonal springs that launch you off the track unless you straddle between them with pinpoint precision drifting? In my view, their continued existence is not negotiable. They are nothing more than a gigantic middle finger to the player. They aren't fun, they aren't clever, and they aren't thrilling. They are irredeemably cheap and they have to go.

Oh, thanks for reminding me of that. I forgot to add... something when you launch off the red springs and fly off into the air. Thanks for that!

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Originally Posted by Fawfulfan

In a good Mario Kart track, the hazards should be worth noting but pale in comparison to the danger of your opponents. If everyone is spending all their energy avoiding that pillar or those springs, or twisting around immediately after a jump, they can't spare a moment's notice for the race itself, let alone use items to shake things up.

It's true there arn't a lot of places to really use those items, but when used effectively, items can be more lethal than normal, like with the banana being able to rip you right off the road.

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Originally Posted by Fawfulfan

Lastly, let me remind you of what Mystic said in the thread for Monochrome Road (which is much, much better than this nightmare of a track): if you make courses to challenge yourself, they're not going to be fun for other people, because the designer is always intimate enough with the stage to navigate it effortlessly. Personally, I tend to find it easier to make an easy stage harder than a hard stage easier, for reasons of emotional attachment. In general, the developer's sense of what is fun and what isn't is a good barometer for what the public will think, but there are some big exceptions. One such exception is difficulty. What the developer thinks is easy might be challenging to other people; what the developer things is hard is in all probability excruciating.

Unlike Monochrome Road, I have gotten feedback from other users. One of them was even SpiritCrusher. I used these points to tweak my map quite a bit beforehand. If you hated it now, you should have seen it before...

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

But there's not a lot of time or space to line yourself up properly. I always end up getting launched at an angle.

Time may be short, but it's not THAT hard. You may need to be at top speed, but there's still about a second to adjust your position from your drift (if you even need to) and fly. Drift properly and not only could you fly over the gap no problem, you could opt for a cut around the corner by aiming for the rightmost spring and going straight for the checkpoint.

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

I like the non-scripted freedom of movement as much as you do but, maybe you should put diagonal springs instead of face up ones there instead so people will stop complaining. That way, no one can say it wasn't their fault for being launched at an angle and hitting the tall pillar.

You may have seen the WIP version of this map if you went "Map mapD2" in the console, but now it's done! Lovely Afternoon, a new map for the new Lovely Cup, a set of deliberately easier maps than the Eagle Cup, all following the theme of the four seasons at different times of the day.

Also made some minor tweaks to previous maps, and split the map and music WADs so if you don't have the right map set online, you can DL them without worrying about having to get the music at the same time. The attachment on the forum contains both wads, but you can get them separately if you'd like.

Also, I've been considering making a Missions set of maps for the Single Player campaign. What do you guys think?

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to unhide Lovely Afternoon and string it into the other courses. I'll fix that next version.

EDIT 2: Well, just fixed a small issue with Lovely Afternoon and added a small feature to EACH map. I'd like to update it again today, but I wanna do just ooooone more thing first...

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

Not only were all the courses given opening flourishes like all the Mario Kart games (You'll know what I mean when you start a course), 8 Riders levels (4 from each cup) were ported to Kart mode! And to think the conversions only took about an hour to do. Now we DEFINETLY have tons of Kart courses avalible now!

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

I updated to 1.4 already? I really gotta slow down...
Music was also updated this time.

For this update, I tried converting Sonic R mode maps, but the thing is, there wern't a lot to choose from. So I went with Race Alley for one of them. I tried making a fourth, but... Lets just say that was not one of my better ideas. It's out of the rotation, but still selectable if you're curious.

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

...In other news, I've recently been hosting a string of netgames with this pack. Other than the random crashes in Lovely Afternoon (which I'm willing to bet can be fixed by forcing people to turn before a starpost) it's really quite nice. Some of the Sonic R ports need a bit of widening, though.

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<@toaster> '"sonic robot explosion 2", the hot new sensation for teens looking for a good time, tempts many children away from god each year'

The next update is coming with lots of bugfixes and changes based on playing with other players. Expect maps with certain particularly annoying parts to become a lot less stressing. But that's not all the next update will bring!

Mario Raceway (N64 Flower Cup) is now added to the rotation! Sure, I had to make it a lot less photogetic to make sure slime trails are to a minimum, but as long as it plays the same, its all ok!

...Right?

I-It has billboards! That's... something... Right?

And this thing! No Kart courses have this thing! I don't know why, but they don't so THAT MEANS SOMETHING!

...

Okay, any ideas of what I should port next? I don't want just ONE map for the next update, and I'm running dry on modivation for my future custom levels...

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

In addition to stomping some bugs in some levels, I also included 3 new maps for you guys! Mario Raceway and Riverside Park you know of, but I also brought in Shroom Ridge! However, due to it looking pretty blech in the visuals department, its currently in beta and will receive a visual update at some point.

Also, the music file was renamed "k_DK64M" so you can add it much quicker when you enter someone's netgame (As music files are not auto-added when you join), due to the name length being so short now.

Next update will probably be the Mission Mode update I've been meaning to do. It may take awhile, but hopefully it'll be worth it!

EDIT: ACK, forgot to add more than one player start in Shroom Ridge. Oh, and Mario Raceway's 3rd checkpoint is apparently too thin and fails to activate if you go too fast. And finishing the level takes you to Metal City (kart) instead of Riverside Park. Lovely. Ah well, next update will come sooner than expected then!

EDIT2: Also, two things of note: In the Riders maps, every Power block can be broken by anyone, and because I forgot to take it out, Digital Dimension was ported too. It'll most likely be removed next update.

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

You know, you should probably update the version number in Addon Settings whenever you update. That way, people who have subscribed to your thread (such as yours truly) will be automatically notified of any update.

Anyway, one huge problem with this pack is that I never have any idea what numbers the maps are. Since I load it up with a batch file, the problem is even worse. Is there anything you can do about this? At the very least, could you make a custom F1 screen that lists all the stages and their map numbers?

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Just another indie game developer...check out my website, Chapman Games!